Jordans and Nelson Top Times’ Girls All-Star Cage Team

It is not every day that two underclassmen from the same team make the Los Angeles Times All-San Gabriel Valley girls basketball squad.

It is even more unusual when the two are twin sisters.

But this year’s 10-player All-Valley team includes juniors Pauline and Geannine Jordan, Muir High School’s all-league tandem who led the Mustangs to second place in the CIF 4-A Division behind Compton. Pauline is a 6-3 center and Geannine is a 6-1 forward.

There are seven players who stand 6 feet or taller on the team. The others are 6-3 Cherie Nelson of Marshall Fundamental, 6-3 Dana Childs of Western Christian, 6-2 Cathy Watlet of San Gabriel, 6-1 Judy Mosley of La Puente and 6-0 DeMetria Terry of Pomona. The remaining players are 5-9 Kristy Greenberg of Walnut, 5-9 Ruth Akahoshi of Keppel and 5-7 Audrey Perkins of San Dimas.

Picked by Coaches, Reporters

Selection was based primarily on voting by valley-area coaches and Times sports reporters. The Times also conferred with college coaches and prep basketball rating services.

Players from nine circulation areas of The Times will be honored at an awards ceremony sponsored by the Los Angeles Times Fund at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Harry Chandler Auditorium in Times Mirror Square. In addition to the San Gabriel Valley team, all-star squads from Orange County, Westside, Glendale, Southeast, South Coast, South Bay, San Fernando Valley and Central City will be honored. A similar program will be held in San Diego.

At the ceremony, a player of the year and a coach of the year for each area will be named. Each player will receive a certificate and a trophy. Long Beach State Coach Joan Bonvicini, who guided the 49ers to the Western Collegiate Athletic Conference and the No. 2 ranking in NCAA Division I at the end of the regular season, will speak.

The 1984-85 squad is composed of six seniors and four juniors. The seniors are Akahoshi, Childs, Nelson, Perkins, Terry and Watlet and the juniors are Mosley, Greenberg and the Jordan sisters. Nelson, Watlet and Pauline Jordan are repeaters from last year’s team.

Here’s a closer look at the players:

At 5-9 and 130 pounds, Akahoshi is one of the smallest players on the all-star squad, but you could not telle that by her statistics this season.

Mission Valley MVP

Akahoshi, selected the Mission Valley League’s most valuable player, was one of the top scorers in the CIF Southern Section with a 23.1 average, and averaged 11.6 rebounds and 4 assists to lead her team to the league championship.

A two-time All-CIF performer, Akahoshi is being recruited by Division I and Division II schools including Cal State Fullerton, Chapman and Cal State Los Angeles.

As impressive as those statistics were, Childs posted even better numbers. The 6-3 center, who made the All-Alpha League team the last two years, averaged 28 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocked shots to establish herself as one of the most dominant players in the area.

Recruited heavily by UCLA, Stanford, UC Irvine, Arizona State and Harvard, Childs chose UCLA during the early signing period last November.

Greenberg was called all-everything by her coach at Walnut, Larry Holmes. She certainly is as versatile as any player on the team, having played guard, forward and center.

Led Team to Title

An outstanding shooter and team leader who has made her all-league team as a sophomore and a junior, the 5-9 Greenberg averaged 17.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5.4 steals and shot 75.7% from the free-throw line to lead the Mustangs to the Sierra League championship.

Muir Coach Archie Newton calls Pauline Jordan the second best player in the West behind Nelson. College scouts won’t go that far but they say she could be the top junior in the state.

Even though she is just a junior, the 6-3, 175-pound Jordan already has been contacted by many Division I powers including USC, UCLA, Louisiana Tech, Nevada-Las Vegas, Arizona State and Long Beach State.

There are not many other juniors who have made the All-CIF and Times all-star squad two years in a row. An all-league player since her freshman year, Jordan averaged 14 points and 10.7 rebounds to lead Muir to a second-place finish behind Compton in the CIF 4-A Division.

The other key player in Muir’s drive to the CIF title game was Pauline’s twin sister, Geannine (6-1, 164), voted the most valuable player of the Pacific League.

Great Improvement as a Junior

Geannine had sporadic success as a sophomore, earning high honorable mention on the All-Valley squad, but blossomed into an outstanding all-around player as a junior. A force underneath the basket, Geannine averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Like her sister, Geannine is considered a strong Division I prospect. Among the schools pursuing her are Louisiana Tech, USC, UCLA, Long Beach State, Nevada-Las Vegas and Arizona.

Another outstanding junior is La Puente’s Mosley, a 6-1, 150-pounder whose presence may be the biggest factor in the rise of her school’s basketball program.

Voted the most valuable player of the Valle Vista League, Mosley led the Warriors to the league title, a berth in the CIF 2-A Division quarterfinals and a 23-3 record--best in the school’s history.

A strong inside player, Mosley averaged 15.1 rebounds a game--11th best in the CIF--and 5 blocked shots and led her team in scoring with a 20-point average.

Nelson Most Dominant

As strong as all of those players were this season, nobody was as dominant as the 6-3, 160-pound Nelson. One of only two players from the state to earn a spot on Parade Magazine’s All-American Team, Nelson compiled statistics most players only dream about.

Nelson led the CIF in scoring and rebounding, averaging a whopping 34 points and 29 rebounds. When you consider that Nelson also averaged 9 blocked shots, 4 assists and 3 steals, it is not difficult to understand why she is considered the top college prospect in the state.

Nelson also was named All-CIF and Alpha League most valuable player four straight years, no small accomplishment.

She is listed as the No. 1 prospect of USC and is also being recruited by Louisiana State, Nevada-Las Vegas, Long Beach State and Arizona State.

For all-around performers, another standout is Perkins, a strong shooter and passer who helped San Dimas reach the CIF finals for the first time in the school’s history. The Saints lost to Valley Christian in the 1-A final but it was a good year for Perkins and San Dimas.

Small but Mighty Player

At 5-7 and 120 pounds, Perkins is the smallest player on the 10-player All-Valley team but she has some pretty tall statistics. She showed her versatility by averaging 19 points, 6.2 assists, 5 rebounds and 4.2 steals as a senior.

An All-Montview League player for three straight years, Perkins was the league MVP in 1983 and 1985 and earned a spot on the All-CIF 1-A squad this year.

Rounding out the team is another player with outstanding offensive credentials, DeMetria Terry, who led Pomona to a 17-5 overall record and the second round of the CIF 4-A playoffs.

Terry was the scoring and rebounding leader for the Red Devils, averaging 21 points and 14 rebounds and also led Pomona in blocked shots. A three-time All-Baseline League player, Terry was the league MVP as a senior.

She is being recruited by San Jose State, Arizona and Cal Poly Pomona.

High honorable mention:

Tammy Adams and Lisa Johnson, Monrovia; Michelle Richard, Wilson; Shelby Adams and Michelle Taylor, Ganesha; Tara Berry, Duarte; Kathy Deeney, Temple City; Debbie Marcusson, Rowland; Susan Docherty, San Gabriel; Rachonne Jones, Pasadena.

Honorable mention:

Sally DeWitt, West Covina; Michelle Lew, Alhambra; Lori Collins and Sylvia Moncada, Walnut; Allison Karuma and Stephanie Coons, Wilson; Kela Fort, Garey; Renee Smith, Nogales; Tricia Wright, Bonita; Judy Robledo, Ganesha; Laura Martin, Diamond Bar; Adrianne Pitts and Anita Lopez, Muir; Julie Smith, Royal Oak; Kandi Eckard and Carla Patz, San Dimas; Diane Grbac, Keppel; Elena Saris, Westridge; Regina Bush, Pomona; Tina Mendoza, Rio Hondo; Karrie Hensley, Temple City; Kristee Haggins, Maranatha; Rachel Norris, San Gabriel; Lori Collins, Marshall Fundamental; Gina Kirkland, Pasadena.

San Gabriel Valley All-Star Girls’ Basketball Team

Scoring Name, school Year Height Average Ruth Akahoshi, Keppel Senior 5-9 23.1 Dana Childs, Western Christian Senior 6-3 28.0 Kristy Greenberg, Walnut Junior 5-9 17.0 Geannine Jordan, Muir Junior 6-1 16.0 Pauline Jordan, Muir Junior 6-3 14.0 Judy Mosley, La Puente Junior 6-1 20.0 Cherie Nelson, Marshall Fundamental Senior 6-3 34.0 Audrey Perkins, San Dimas Senior 5-7 19.0 DeMetria Terry, Pomona Senior 6-0 21.0 Cathy Watlet, San Gabriel Senior 6-2 21.5